The use of drugs seems to be a confession of failure to secure true hypnotism, so that it is doubtful whether their employment is justified. Suggestions received while in the more or less comatose state induced by drugs, instead of having a strengthening effect on the patient's will, rather tend to produce the idea of the impossibility of effectively using his own will, or even exercising his will when helped, as he supposes, by the will of the operator. The real value of hypnotism consists in the concentration of mind upon a particular idea without any distractions, which enables the subject to make firm resolutions and then to have his mind help his body as much as possible by directing his energy to the accomplishment of one end. When drugs are employed, they have a diffusive rather than a concentrating influence, so that the real purpose of hypnotism is entirely missed.
PRACTICE OF HYPNOTISM
In the ordinary practice of hypnotism now, the patient is placed sitting on a comfortable chair and the operator on one side facing prepares the mind of the subject by proper assurances. The patient must be brought into a thoroughly assured and comfortable state of mind and must be quite ready to submit to hypnotism. Then in most people, if the finger is held rather close to the patient and well above the line of sight, requiring special effort [{158}] on the part of the superior recti muscles as well as of the power of convergence, a tired feeling will come over the subject with a tendency of the lids to droop. When this happens the subject is asked to allow the lids to drop and to quietly concentrate the attention on the idea of sleep so as to permit the drowsy feeling gradually to increase. On a first seance this may take ten minutes, subsequently much less time will be needed, and, as a rule, in five minutes the subject is quite predisposed to sleep. In more difficult cases a much longer time may be needed, and repeated efforts may have to be made. Great patience is required. The operator soon learns to adjust himself to certain peculiarities of individuals in predisposing them to the hypnotic condition.
Hypnotism Simple, Natural, Not Mysterious.—The most important thing to know about hypnotism is the fact that any one who wishes can hypnotize. There may be need for favoring circumstances, but there is no need for any special faculty in the operator. If he has confidence in himself so as to take up the question of hypnotizing seriously, if the subjects are reasonably susceptible and if they are persuaded that they may be hypnotized, or even if they are not, so long as they take the operator seriously a hypnotic state will result. Nothing is more surprising to the operator himself, the first time he succeeds, than his success. This at once gives him renewed confidence, and future hypnosis becomes a comparatively simple matter. To have this idea widely diffused would do much good, since it would at once strip the charlatans, who abuse hypnotism, of most of the mystery that surrounds them. The general diffusion of such knowledge would also do good in another way. It would expose the supposed wonderful power that some people are presumed to possess. Hypnotism works no wonders; it is a mere natural manifestation not unlike sleep, and probably not a whit more mysterious.
Stages.—A number of divisions of the hypnotic state have been suggested, but probably the simple division into three stages is the best for ordinary teaching purposes, and helps to the understanding both of the conditions themselves and of many things that are written about hypnotism.
The first stage consists of a subdued, dreamy condition, in which the patient is not asleep and yet not thoroughly awake to all that is going on around him. He has his mind so concentrated on certain thoughts that he is preoccupied, and suggestions are much more efficient than under ordinary circumstances. This is really only a state of intense attention to the suggestions that are being made, with the banishment of all distracting thoughts. It is rather difficult for any one to keep from being distracted, and whenever this is accomplished, the ideas that then enter the mind penetrate more deeply and, above all, seem to affect the will more forcibly than when they are merely superficially considered. This first stage of hypnotism would not be considered hypnotic by most people who associate the idea of sleep with hypnotism.
In recent years it has been found that most of the good that is accomplished, especially for nervous people, by hypnotic suggestion, can be attained almost, if not quite as well, in this first stage, and without the hypnotic trance. The first stage is much less liable to the dangers of hypnotism in many ways, and it represents one of the most interesting phases of psychotherapy.
The second stage of hypnotism is the hypnotic sleep. The patient loses consciousness of his surroundings, though his senses are still open to suggestion from the operator. Practically all that happens in the room apart from what is brought to the subject through the operator's direction remains unnoticed. If the sleep is very deep, even the suggestions of the operator do not penetrate after a time, so it may be quite difficult to awaken the subject. It may be even some hours before the person hypnotized will come out of the lethargy which has been induced in these cases. Under these circumstances, this second stage partakes somewhat of the nature of the deeper trance condition that characterizes the third stage.
The third stage of hypnotism consists of a profound trance-like condition in which there is catalepsy—that is, firm contracture of muscles all over the body—and as the extensors are stronger than the flexors, this contracture takes place in the extended position. The cataleptic condition is really a nervous spasmodic seizure rather than a true stage of hypnotism. It is probably always harmful for the patient to have it induced. Its occurrence as one manifestation of hysteria, apart from hypnotism, shows its real character. It is with this stage of hypnotism that professional hypnotists, who give exhibitions, make their demonstrations—that is, of course, when their demonstrations are really hypnotic and are not merely, as is often the case, performances by actors trained for the purpose. Catalepsy is entirely pathological; experiment with it then is eminently undesirable, and certainly should not be undertaken except under the most careful precautions and by a physician. One of its dangers was very clearly pointed out by the death of a young man, who in a cataleptic condition was subjected to certain strains upon his thorax which brought about the rupture of an aortic aneurism. Catalepsy never permits of suggestion in such a way as to be helpful to the patient. It always leads to further functional deterioration of the nervous system, and yet it has unfortunately come to mean for many people the most essential characteristic of hypnotism. Its production is supposed to represent the acme of skill in the hypnotist. Nothing could possibly be less true nor be more likely to do harm.